The Tougher Majority
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -
- George Orwell
"I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy."
-- Steve Martin
I don't think it's outrageous to say that not everyone is cut out to be a soldier. In much the same sense, not everyone is cut out to be a prostitute.
Killers and whores, regardless of gender, have many, many things in common in western/westernized culture.
A soldier in the United States is not free. There are contracts that are signed, papers are pushed and rights are relinquished. It's perhaps true that many members of many militaries come to accept that in their sacrifice of certain safeties and comforts comes a steady paycheck and more often a sense of purpose. I dare say many people these days lack anything that even looks good near a sense of purpose.
A prostitute is much the same. The contract is more a social one, but due to law, a prostitute gives up certain rights as a citizen. This is true in many western and some westernized countries, and a prostitute will sacrifice certain safeties and comforts for a steady paycheck, and it's possible in some, if not many cases that there is a feeling of purpose there as well. When some one wants you physically, sometimes that can purpose in and of itself.
despite those hard sacrifices, the two occupations have survived thousands of years.
Why would such demanding work survive, in these softer, easier times?
It's because the world is not soft. The world is not easy. The majority of the world is a hard, mean, place. Thousands of lives are lost to violence everyday and still thousands more to the random injustice of a day to day spent in the assured chaos of a world with entirely too many humans in need and want of more than they have.
This is where the soldier comes in. In a perfect world, a soldier can tip the balance back against the wicked and the unjust, assuming the side that risen their passion for justice has not mislead them. It's safe to say most soldiers are not rich men who decided one day to spend the better part of their lives out in the elements of weather and war.
Indeed, the rich are typically the ones who decide it's time for a war.
In much the same sense, many people go long periods of time without feeling something like affection, or love or caring. Or worse, people can find it fleeting; perhaps even worse is never knowing it at all. Need for more or fear of the unknown. A prostitute can assuage all of these feelings.
Rarely would a rich person even consider choosing such and option as selling themselves for money.
However the rich may still feel the need to pay someone.
People need to feel something. The hard cold parts of life need to be readily contrasted.
There is a minority that has all the advantages, holds all the cards and makes all the money. Many others in the world are lead to believe that the only way to survive is to kill everyone near to them, or at least rather they are not told that there are peaceful ways to go about things.
It could be argued that many forms of terrorism stem merely from people not being told wholesale slaughter of those they dislike is an undertaking that no man really has the stamina for.
Killing to make a point is not heathen behavior. It's human behavior.
In people, both the capacity for astonishing violence and supreme intellect are present. The bloody base behaviors exist alongside, even in conjunction with, the halcyon of the human heart.
This is how the soldier and the whore can still exist. Our minds and technology grow, yet as we do this our lust and rage continues to exist. This leaves a cause for people to do the nasty ugly things while the minority in power can enjoy their higher brains. Their lower brains are served with violence and secretion, and their higher brains are free to achieve.
- George Orwell
"I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy."
-- Steve Martin
I don't think it's outrageous to say that not everyone is cut out to be a soldier. In much the same sense, not everyone is cut out to be a prostitute.
Killers and whores, regardless of gender, have many, many things in common in western/westernized culture.
A soldier in the United States is not free. There are contracts that are signed, papers are pushed and rights are relinquished. It's perhaps true that many members of many militaries come to accept that in their sacrifice of certain safeties and comforts comes a steady paycheck and more often a sense of purpose. I dare say many people these days lack anything that even looks good near a sense of purpose.
A prostitute is much the same. The contract is more a social one, but due to law, a prostitute gives up certain rights as a citizen. This is true in many western and some westernized countries, and a prostitute will sacrifice certain safeties and comforts for a steady paycheck, and it's possible in some, if not many cases that there is a feeling of purpose there as well. When some one wants you physically, sometimes that can purpose in and of itself.
despite those hard sacrifices, the two occupations have survived thousands of years.
Why would such demanding work survive, in these softer, easier times?
It's because the world is not soft. The world is not easy. The majority of the world is a hard, mean, place. Thousands of lives are lost to violence everyday and still thousands more to the random injustice of a day to day spent in the assured chaos of a world with entirely too many humans in need and want of more than they have.
This is where the soldier comes in. In a perfect world, a soldier can tip the balance back against the wicked and the unjust, assuming the side that risen their passion for justice has not mislead them. It's safe to say most soldiers are not rich men who decided one day to spend the better part of their lives out in the elements of weather and war.
Indeed, the rich are typically the ones who decide it's time for a war.
In much the same sense, many people go long periods of time without feeling something like affection, or love or caring. Or worse, people can find it fleeting; perhaps even worse is never knowing it at all. Need for more or fear of the unknown. A prostitute can assuage all of these feelings.
Rarely would a rich person even consider choosing such and option as selling themselves for money.
However the rich may still feel the need to pay someone.
People need to feel something. The hard cold parts of life need to be readily contrasted.
There is a minority that has all the advantages, holds all the cards and makes all the money. Many others in the world are lead to believe that the only way to survive is to kill everyone near to them, or at least rather they are not told that there are peaceful ways to go about things.
It could be argued that many forms of terrorism stem merely from people not being told wholesale slaughter of those they dislike is an undertaking that no man really has the stamina for.
Killing to make a point is not heathen behavior. It's human behavior.
In people, both the capacity for astonishing violence and supreme intellect are present. The bloody base behaviors exist alongside, even in conjunction with, the halcyon of the human heart.
This is how the soldier and the whore can still exist. Our minds and technology grow, yet as we do this our lust and rage continues to exist. This leaves a cause for people to do the nasty ugly things while the minority in power can enjoy their higher brains. Their lower brains are served with violence and secretion, and their higher brains are free to achieve.
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